Agata Stafiej-Bartosik
Stories of plants, culture and hidden systems shaping our world.
I am a sociologist, writer, and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of culture, environmental humanities, and social innovation. My work explores how everyday landscapes — especially gardens — and plants carry cultural memory, identity, and hidden systems of meaning.
From the Collection
On Vasily Dokuchaev and the science of soil
Vasily Dokuchaev is one of those figures who look very serious in textbooks — moustache, frock coat, stern gaze — but if you were to transport him to the present day, he'd probably be a YouTube star, explaining to kids and farmers why the earth beneath their feet is more important than it seems.
Earthworms (apparently)
In 1831, whilst the November Uprising was raging in Poland, a young theology graduate fascinated by nature – Charles Darwin – boarded the small but nimble ship HMS Beagle. In his 70s, Charles turned his attention and scientific rigour towards… earthworms.
Apart from the fact that they're both sweethearts
Pedro Pascal starred in 'The Last of Us', in which fungi attack humans and turn them into dangerous zombies. The creators were inspired by a real predatory fungus — the ant-lurker — which actually turns ants into mindless zombies.
Seeds as dreams in a packet
Seeds are 'dreams in a packet', as Rodney and Rachel Saunders used to say. Nikolai Vavilov travelled across five continents collecting thousands of plant samples. During the Siege of Leningrad, nine scientists died of starvation — but the seed bank's reserves remained untouched.
"A walk in the park, the woods or a garden is like an advent calendar to me — every plant is a door to a story."
Long-form narrative essays at the intersection of botany, history, and culture. Including the acclaimed essay on the garden of Hedwig Höss at the villa beside Auschwitz.
Read Essays →Writers' Gardens — an essay-and-photography portrait of contemporary Polish writers and their gardens, co-created with photographer Jan Brykczyński.
Explore the Book →Lost Jewish Gardens — an interdisciplinary project reconstructing the almost entirely erased cultural landscape of Jewish gardens in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.
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